Overstocked?

[bigphesta]

Is my 30 gal overstocked?

 

[heresmike]

Yes.

 

[bigphesta]

how bad?

 

[yhbae]

Before even talking about how overstocked your tank is, what is the length of your tank? 2.5ft or 3ft?

 

[bigphesta]

29 inches... so 2 1/2

And if this is about the pleco, yes, it'll be gone before it gets too big for the tank - have a buddy with a 125 who'll take it.

 

[yhbae]

Yes pleco will outgrow your tank, and so will the shark. In fact, I believe the angel will also outgrow your tank. If you remove those 3, the stock level looks more reasonable...

 

[bigphesta]

The angel should only get 5 inches, and the red tailed shark about 3-4... according to the LFS where I got them.

 

[yhbae]

You should check out some of the profile info for these species, especially the red tailed shark. It will pretty much kill all of your other species once they reach certain size due to their aggression. As for angels, I honestly don't know that much about them as I have never dealt with them, but often others seem to recomend tanks larger and taller...

 

[bigphesta]

According to my LFS's web site ;

Red-tail sharks fit well in most community tanks. They mix well with nearly all typical fishes. However, some specimens have been known to pick on slow-moving goldfishes. Do not mix them with large, rough cichlids. The faster sharks will avoid the hungry cichlids for awhile (but not forever). We’ve kept a few larger ones with African cichlids for a while. We don’t recommend the practice.

 

[Phantom Thief]

Just to add, glass catfish need to be in schools of 3 or more.

P.T.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

and cory cats like to be in shoals of at least four

 

[clutterydrawer]

and tetras like to - well you know the rest.

 

[yhbae]

According to my LFS's web site ;

Red-tail sharks fit well in most community tanks. They mix well with nearly all typical fishes. However, some specimens have been known to pick on slow-moving goldfishes. Do not mix them with large, rough cichlids. The faster sharks will avoid the hungry cichlids for awhile (but not forever). We’ve kept a few larger ones with African cichlids for a while. We don’t recommend the practice.

First step towards the right answer is to throw that LFS web URL away... That info is obviuosly wrong.

Some had success with them in a community tank fro up to a year, then the disaster happens - they kill just about all species in the tank. A group of tiger barbs got wiped out by them as well. On the extreme side, someone on this forum lost "Melanochromis chipokae" from them and this is considered to be one of the most aggressive mbuna.

These guys are certainly not peaceful, and they usually recomend a species tank (with only one of them in the tank). I was considering to put one into my 3ft mbuna tank, but when I heard about Chipokae story, I decided not to... I'm more worried about the danger on the mbuna than on the shark...

At the end, it is up to you - you may be able to pull off what most others couldn't. Who knows, you may have a extra peaceful specimen... How big is it right now?

 

[bigphesta]

about two inches now.

 

[yhbae]

about two inches now.

In that case, you probably have some time before you need to make your mind up since it is still relatively young...